Evaluation Politics in Europe: Trends and Tendencies

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Abstract
From the beginning of 1960s many countries in Europe have adopted the concept of evaluation from the U. S., and during the 1990’s the idea of New Public Management (NPM) has formed evaluation as a tool mostly for the management and control. In this article Karlsson discusses how evaluation is formed by tendencies and trends in politics both nationally and in the European Union. In the name of coordination and assessment, evaluation has become a tool for control and measuring to answer if the performances can show quality and efficiency and to legitimize the political decisions and priorities. In that context of control it is of great importance of observing the need for democratic claims and goals and to give different stakeholders a voice. The article discusses strengths and weaknesses with different evaluation approaches for democratic evaluation and participation.